They replaced people with AI. Now they are paying dearly to hire them back.

AI did not lay anyone off. The layoffs came from companies that miscalculated the route. The bill arrived as dissatisfied customers, operational failures and the cost of bringing back the people who had been let go. The phenomenon already has a name in the American market: “AI boomerang.”

The cases are not isolated. Ford rehired and promoted more than 350 experienced engineers after automated quality control systems could not reproduce the eye of those who knew the plant. IBM is going to triple entry-level hiring in the U.S., including for roles that, according to the fashionable narrative, AI would do on its own. Klarna publicly admitted that replacing service agents with a chatbot brought down the quality of its service.

The numbers confirm it. A Careerminds survey of 600 HR professionals shows that two out of three companies that made cuts attributed to AI are already rehiring. For about 31% of them, rebuilding the teams cost more than the layoffs saved. Forrester reports that 55% of employers regret the decision.

My reading, as an economist: it is a classic pricing error. The cost of payroll gets calculated. The cost of the error stays off the spreadsheet.

I lived this recently. I lost access to my account with a technology provider that hosts my domain and my professional website. The password reset did not work, and the system only answered “user not found.” The one who responded was an AI agent. It took several emails back and forth before a solution appeared, with a 48-hour timeframe and an apology. For anyone who depends on a digital presence, two days offline is not a detail.

In real estate, the lesson weighs more. Florida law (Chapter 475, F.S.) requires honesty, accounting for funds received, skill, care and diligence from the licensed professional. That responsibility cannot be outsourced to an algorithm.

Technology is part of the routine: data analysis, research, organization. Negotiation, reading the context and responsibility for the guidance given remain human work. And licensed work.

Technology that works expands the professional. Technology that tries to replace the professional, by all indications, ends up costing more.

Sources

1. CNBC (July 1, 2026)
2. Fortune, IBM's CHRO (February 13, 2026)
3. Fortune/Bloomberg, Klarna's CEO (May 9, 2025)
4. Careerminds (February 2026), via Forbes (April 24, 2026)
5. Forrester, “Future of Work 2026,” via The Washington Times (March 10, 2026)
6. Florida Statutes, Ch. 475, §475.278 (leg.state.fl.us)